


Spider

by lulu6x



Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-08-14
Packaged: 2017-12-23 13:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/926822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulu6x/pseuds/lulu6x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Struggling from the recent death of her older brother, Amanda must learn to trust again. When she befriends the mysterious and secretive Peter Parker, he begins to break down the barriers she once worked so hard on to build up. But as the not so amazing Whiplash joins the picture, Amanda struggles not only for love, but for the truth behind the Spider.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I sit in the passenger seat of the car, staring out the window as the scenery blurs by.

"Amanda are you listening to me?" Alex asks, turning the radio down so I can hear her better.

"Yeah, of course" I say, looking away from the window

So?" she asks, smiling.

"What?"

"So you weren't paying attention" she sighs, slamming on the brakes.

I fly forward and put my hands on the dashboard to stop my head from smashing into it.

"What the heck! Retard!" She yells, leaning on her horn.

The guy in the car in front of us sticks his head out the window, giving us a one finger wave.

"Aw look he's saying hi to you Alex!" I wave back at him teasingly.

Alex shakes her head, smiling.

"The people that they give a license to these days" She says, slamming on the gas as the guy in front of us takes a sharp turn.

I climb out of the small car once Alex pulls into the crowded parking lot. Leaning against it, I take a look around at all the buzzing students.

"Welcome back to hell" I mutter as Alex walks around to my side of the car.

"tell me about it"

She presses a button on her keys, locking her car. We walk up the steps together to the castle-like high school, entering the glass doors. The halls were just as crowded as the parking lot as students hang out at each others lockers, catching up on each others summer. Alex and I split to find our lockers and make plans to meet up after advisement.

Putting the combination in my locker, I pull my books out of my bag and shove it in my locker, slamming it shut and looking at my schedule. I head to class silently, being stopped in the hallway only a few times by some friends. The classroom is quiet as I walk in. Looking at the clock there's still five minutes before everyone is late. I take a seat in the back of the room and lean back in the chair.

A boy who looks familiar walks into the room, taking a seat in the desk next to me. He runs a hand through his dark brown hair that covers part of his light blue wears a navy blue sweatshirt and dark jeans. He looks over at me.

"hey" he says smiling.

i give him a small wave.

"um, it's Amanda. Right?" He asks and I nod, trying to remember his name.

"and you're..." I pause and try not to make it noticeable that I'm having trouble remembering his name. I bite my lip, taking a guess. "Luke" I say, confidently.

He laughs and shakes his head. "It's Peter" he says, as the bell rings.

After the bell signifying class rings I grab my books and walk out of the room to Alex's locker. She stands at it, shoving books in it not so merrily.

"can today go any slower?" she asks when I get to her locker.

"don't jinx it" I mutter, watching as Peter walks by us.

"I feel really bad. Today in class I forgot his name and he remembered mine" I say and sigh.

Alex looks over at me. "so? it's not like he's unforgiving. I mean, if a hot guy like that wasn't one to forgive, I don't know what I would do with life" she says, leaning against the locker next to me.

I elbow her in the stomach. "ouch, I'm just saying, so what he's bullied, he's still hot!"

She moves out of my reach before I elbow her again.

"Just, don't" I say and walk to my next class.

Lunch comes faster than I expected, but I'm not going to complain. Alex and I sit at an empty table, me poking at my salad and her playing with her sandwich.

"I wish they fed us food" she mutters and i laugh a little.

"That would be no fun!" I giggle.

We both look up when we hear a slam and a bunch of shouting. Standing up, I run towards the crowd of people. In the center, Matt has Peter pinned to a wall while the crowd around me exclaims and demands a fight. Someone touches my arm and I spin around to meet Alex's eyes. "Don't do anything stupid, Amanda" She whispers and I shrug.

"But that's no fun" I say and push my way through the crowd.

Once I'm in the front I walk into the middle where Matt has his arm pulled back, ready to throw a punch.

"Leave him alone!" I yell at Matt, who spins around and look at me.

"what are you going to do about it?" he asks and I bite my lip, not exactly sure.

He drops Peter and walks towards me. I try to walk backwards but he grabs a fistful of the front of my shirt.

"Would you like to take his place?" He says and i shake my head. "Scared of a little punch, Amanda?" He teases. "It's not like your brother would have even touched you" He says and i ball my hands into fists at him mentioning my brother.

"Leave my brother out of this" I say through clenched teeth.

"aw, is little Amanda still pissed that he bit the dust before she could?" he says.

Without thinking, i throw a punch, hitting him directly in the nose and watching as he staggers back, releasing my shirt.

"You should run now" I hear Alex whisper from behind me. Without looking behind me, I sprint through the crowd and towards the cafeteria doors.

Sooner than I expected, I hear Matt's footsteps behind me. "You are so dead!" he yells as I sprint out the doors and down the hallway. As I pass the supply closet, something grabs my arm and drags me in, slamming the door behind us. I scream and kick, expecting Matt. Whoever dragged me in, clamps a hand over my mouth and drags me back farther into the closet as the door opens, revealing Matt's face peering in. I hold my breath and he looks around. After what feels like hours, he goes back to the hallway and shuts the door. The hand over my mouth releases me and I stagger backwards, catching my breath.

"relax, it's just me, Peter" he says and I let out a loud breath out of relief.

"Thanks for that, but I had it handled" he says and I laugh, shaking my head.

"sure" I take a seat on the cold ground. Peter takes a seat in front of me.

"You didn't though. What were you thinking?" He asks and I shrug.

"I just wanted to help..." I bite my lip.

"well thanks, but don't do it again" he chuckles.

"I'm sorry about your brother" he adds. I shake my head.

"Don't be" I mutter and stand up as the bell rings, signaling the ending of lunch. I stand up and dust off my pants.

"thanks again" he says and I give him a small wave and walk out into the hallway.

I sit on the bench in front of a corner store downtown. Alex lies across the other half of it, complaining about how she shouldn't have eaten so much.

"Shut up" I tell her and she rolls her eyes. I look up at the night sky.

"we should probably head to the theater, the movies going to start soon" I say, standing up. Alex holds her hands out for me to help her up. I sigh and grab them, pulling her up. Only a few people are out tonight as we walk down the sidewalk to the theater.

"you know, living in NYC you would think it would be more crowded" I point out and Alex shrugs.

"well, it's a school night?" she guesses and I laugh.

"What the hell?" she asks, looking up. I follow her gaze to see a blur of red and blue in the sky. "what is that?" I ask Alex. "how am I suppose to know?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Psst"

"Shut Up"

"Pssssssst"

"Oh My God, Shut Up!" I yell at Alex, earning a few questioning glances from the crowd around me.

Alex puts a hand over her mouth to muffle her silent giggles.

"What?" I ask, annoyed.

"I don't understand... why would he leave her just to come back like a few hours later"

"Well maybe if you hadn't of talked throughout the first hour of the damn movie you'd understand" I answer and she throws a fistful of popcorn at me.

"Such a waste"

I collect the pieces that fell into my lap, silently shoving them in my mouth. I ignore Alex's weird looks and continue to watch the movie.

Once the movies over, we sit at a small table in the lobby, finishing up our third refill of popcorn and talking about the movie. After we get bored with the discussion we silently people watch. The people who live in NYC are very interesting to watch, including myself.

"sometimes, I feel..." Alex says silently, looking over at me.

"Like a potato"

"On a Friday night"

"in a hot tub" I finish and we both laugh.

"well then" I hear a voice say from behind me.

I spin around, facing Matt's friend, Tim. I can feel Alex glaring at him from behind me. He just smirks back at her over my shoulder.

"what do you want?" I say, crossing my arms across my chest.

"I just want to talk" he says, pulling a chair up to our table and sitting down.

"Well look at the time" Alex says, rolling up the sleeve of her sweatshirt and tapping her index finger on her bare wrist.

We both quickly stand up, not bothering to push our chair in and walk out of the doors, walking quickly down the sidewalk and blending in with the crowd. Alex looks over at me.

"what did he want?"

I shrug and she sighs. I give her a weird look as she reaches into her pocket, pulling out a can of spray paint.

"How about some...art?" she smirks.

"Why, of course" I say hooking my elbow with hers.

We skip through the crowd and down the stairs to the subway. We sit on the bench, each tapping a beat on the arm of the bench. The subway stops in front of the crowd we are sitting in and we quickly jump in it. I take a seat and Alex stands up, holding on the metal pole. Once the subway comes to a stop, the doors open and Alex and I run through the crowd, back up the steps and into another crowd.

"too many crowds" I mutter and she grabs my arm, dragging me into an alleyway.

We navigate our way through the back alleyways until we reach a far back alley that's abandoned. She hand me a can of spray paint while shaking her own. I shake it and pop off the top.

"what shall we draw?" I ask, crossing my arms and examining the wall.

"I know what I'm drawing, I don't know about you" she says and begins spray painting, holding the can with one hand and her sweatshirt over her mouth and nose with the other.

I walk over to a wall near her and lift my hood up, already used to the fumes. I close my eyes and wait for a picture to appear. I keep my eyes shut as I feel my fingers press the top down, the familiar fumes filling my nostrils as i paint. After what feels like hours, I open my eyes again and smile, crossing my arms across my chest, satisfied. Alex walks over to my wall and smiles at the big bubble letters. She slings her arm over my shoulders and leans her head on my shoulder.

'Time Is On Our Side'

She looks over at me and I give her a small smile.

"You know, Kaleb would be proud" she says, giving me a sad smile.

I nod my head, biting my lip at her mentioning his name. A million things go on in my head. I shake it off and walk over to her masterpiece. I laugh silently as I look at it.

"just, take a moment to admire my talent" she jokes.

In front of me is a painting of a stick figure holding a demented flower.

"he brought you flowers!" she exclaims and I laugh.

"how sweet of him. You're so talented"

In response she takes a bow and I laugh a bit.

"well, well, what do we have here?" I hear a man's voice say.

We both spin around to see three men walking towards us wearing all black.

"What are you two sweethearts doing?" one asks.

"Wouldn't you just love to know?" Alex says, nastily.

"that was cute" another one says as they approach.

Alex and I exchange a look as they approach, stopping a few feet away. One nudges Alex and she throws a punch. Before she can hit him, he grabs her wrist and pins her against the wall. Alex struggles and I yell, trying to pull him off her before being pinned down by the other two.

"Let me go you freaks!" Alex screams and I stay silent as one of the guys presses a knife against my throat.

"Shut up babe or your little friend gets it" the one that holds the knife threatens.

Alex immediately shuts up and my eyes widen as the guy applies more pressure to the knife.

"what do you want?" I ask, trying to sound brave but even I notice the fear in my voice.

"I'll take whatever I can get out of you" he says and i hold in the temptation to spit at him.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you that that's no way to treat a woman" a young male voice sounds from the end of the alley.

I watch as the man looks away from me, unable to turn my head.

"not you again" he hisses.

"did you miss me?"

I feel the knife being removed from my throat and thinking quick, I knee the man where the sun doesn't shine. Alex does the same and both men fall to the ground. The third man runs at us but a silver string of web pins him to the wall. Alex and I don't stick around to see what happens next. We take off sprinting down the alley, reaching a dead-end. We search for an escape and my eyes find a ladder leading up to a fire escape. I nudge Alex and point to it and she nods. We run to the ladder and climb it quickly, pulling ourselves on the fire escape we run up to the roof of the building. Once at the roof, I put my hands on my knees, leaning forward and panting.

"Come on, we're probably being followed" she says, grabbing my arm.

"to where?" I ask and she points to the rooftop next to us.

"you've gotta kidding..." In response she shakes her head.

I watch as she runs forward, jumping off the side of the roof and rolling on the next roof. I get it, we both did gymnastics for a few years.

"come on!" she yells, waving me over.

I run forward and without thinking, i leap over the edge. Once i feel the cement beneath me, i roll so i don't land my fall wrong. I stand up, dusting off my shirt. We do this for about three more rooftops. Once on the fourth we figure we are safe and sit down.

"Don't I get a thank you?" a voice says from behind up and we both jump, spinning around.

The man in the spandex stands in front of us.

"who are you?" I ask and I can see him smirk under the mask.

"Spider-man"

"well...then... thank you...Spider-man?" Alex says, giving him a weird look.

He crosses his arms and nods, satisfied. Then he turns and runs, jumping down the side of the roof. Alex and I run after him, looking down over the edge, but he's gone.


	3. Chapter 3

I sit at the kitchen table, eating a piece of bacon and watching the news on the small television in front of me. My mom gives me a kiss on the forehead and leaves for work, yelling a quick goodbye over her shoulder as she runs out of the apartment. My phone vibrates across the table and i quickly catch it before it goes off the side of the table.

"Hello?" i answer.

"Let me in, I'm at your door" I hear Alex respond and i sigh, hanging up.

I push my chair out and jog into the living room, unlocking the front door. Alex pushes past me and into the kitchen, flipping through the channels on my TV.

"What are you doing?" I ask and she ignores me, continuing to flip through the channels.

"Alex, seriously, what?" i continue to bug her until she flips to another news channel.

"Ale-" She shooshes me and i cross my arms across my chest, listening to the broadcaster.

There is a masked man, running and swinging through NYC. If anyone has any info on who this masked person may be, please contact the news channel as soon as possible. For now, the head chief of the police department is declaring an arrest warrant for the man who goes by the name of Spider-Man.

I walk up and flip the TV off, ignoring Alex's complaints.

"Why did you turn that off?!" she exclaims.

"I don't know, why did I?" I cross my arms across my chest.

"you missed the part where people claim he was climbing up wall and shooting webs from his wrist!"

"Cool Story, tell me when your ready to come back to reality"

Alex crosses her arms, taking a seat at the table and pouting. I give her a weird look and slap her hand away as she reaches for my last piece of bacon.

"This is reality! We saw him last night!" she wines and i sigh.

"I know but that was a once in a lifetime thing... he's just a coward"

"No, he scared those men away and pinned one against the wall"

"Then why didn't he take off his mask and show himself? He's a coward"

She crosses her arms, clearly knowing she lost this argument. She opens her mouth to add something and I shush her. She gives me a dirty looks, sticking her tongue out. I roll my eyes.

"Let's go shopping" she suggests.

"Let's not"

"please?" she begs.

"no"

"Pleeeasseee?"

"no"

"pretty please?"

"fine, just shut up" i mutter and finish my last piece of bacon, standing up and placing the my plate in the sink.

I barely have enough time to pull on skinny jeans and a t-shirt before Alex drags me out the door, grabbing my shoes on the way out. My apartment is on the 41st floor so i put my shoes on while in the elevator, lacing my dark purple converse.

"Where do you want to go?" i ask as she drags me through the hotel lobby and out the automatic doors.

"I was thinking we could go just walk around and window shop"

"can we at least stop and get coffee first?"

"fine" she sighs.

We walk into a small corner café and up to the counter. The waitress greets me with a friendly smile.

"Good morning, what can i get you?" she asks nicely.

"Can i get a medium ice coffee?"

She nods and i turn to Alex, who twirls her hair on her finger, clearly bored.

"what do you want?" I ask her.

"I'll take a small ice coffee"

"will that be all?" the waitress asks.

"Yup" I say and hand her the total.

After Alex and I grab our coffee's I slip my wallet in my purse. We head out the doors. I push the door open with my arm and step out, looking back at Alex. Before I realize what happened, something cold goes down the front of my shirt and I'm stumbling backwards. Someone grabs onto my wrists to steady me.

"Are you okay?" Peter stands in front of me, holding my wrists to keep me steady.

He releases me and bends down, picking up the cup that used to hold my iced coffee. I can hear Alex giggling behind me. Peter stands up and looks down at the crushed cup in his hand, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly with the other.

"I guess i owe you an iced coffee" he says, embarrassed.

I can't help but laugh at how stupid this situation is, ignoring the coldness of the ice down my shirt.

"I'm really sorry"

"its okay" I say, holding in a shiver.

He's wearing a blue t-shirt with dark jeans, a skateboard next to his foot. His hair is messy above his head but still attractive.

"Listen, we would love to talk but if we don't go, she's probably going to get frost bite" Alex says, grabbing my arm and tugging.

"I'll see you later" Peter says, waving as I'm being dragged down the sidewalk and through the crowd. I wave back.

"What are you doing" I say and wiggle out of Alex's grip.

"trying to make sure you don't embarrass yourself anymore"

"I was doing fine"

"You looked like a brain-dead idiot!"

I swear my face turns a shade of pink at that comment. Alex shakes her head and pours me into a small clothing shop. She throws a bunch of outfits on me and pushes me into a dressing room. As i peel my shirt off, Alex throws napkins over the stall door and I use them to clean my chest.

Once out of the store, in a new outfit that includes black shorts with a purple tank top, Alex looks over at me.

"What should we do now?" she asks.

"Can we visit uncle Joe?" I ask and she shrugs.

"Why not... we haven't seen him in a while" she says and we turn down the road that leads to his retirement home.

We enter the doors of the retirement home, the smell of moth balls greets us. We walk up to the front desk smiles at us.

"Hi girls! He's been asking about you" she says and points down one of the halls. "He's hanging out in thre recreation room"

We thank her and walk down the hall towards the recreation room. When we walk in, there are two older women playing pool and a small group playing bingo across the room. Uncle Joe sits on the coach alone, drawing on a piece of paper on his lap. Alex and I walk over and take a seat next to him.

"Wow I didn't expect a visit from two pretty women" he says, giving us a goofy grin.

"hello to you to Uncle Joe" I say smiling.

"don't forget tomorrow I'm turning 90"

"Oh we won't" Alex says smiling.

"you girls have visited me forever" he says.

"four years" I say, smiling at him.

"five years soon" Alex adds.

"you girls are the only thing that give me hope for humanity now a days"

Alex and i look at each other and smile. We stay for a couple of hours, playing random board games and joking about the stupidest things. Uncle Joe shows us some of his new paintings of birds. He talks about how when he was just out age he used to sell his paintings to support his family. He was the youngest child of seven, all of them deceased.

My mom calls me around six saying she wants me to do some chores around the house because she's working overtime. Alex and I say goodbye to Uncle Joe.

"have a nice night women. Remember, if you're in a conflict, follow your heart" He says and we nod at his usual saying.

Saying goodbye to the woman at the front counter, we walk out the doors. Alex drops me off at my apartment and we hug goodbye. I press the button and wait for the elevator to open. I watch the digital number above the elevator door as it counts down to my floor, dinging once at L and the large silver doors slide open. I step in, pressing my floor number. Once at my floor, i walk quickly to my door, unlock it and step into my dark and empty apartment.

Doing my chores quickly, i slip on a black hoodie over my tank top and slip a can of spray-paint into my pocket. I open the door to my moms room and go through her drawers until i find my dads old switch blade and slip it in my pocket. I shut her door and walk out the front door, walking towards the elevators. I step outside the lobby doors and look up. The stars twinkle above me and i take a deep breath of the fresh air. I walk down the sidewalk, blending into the crowd. i quickly slip into an alleyway a block away and walk down its familiar path. I turn into my favorite alley and smile.

The brick walls are covered in paintings that many call graffiti. I call it art. I pull the can out of my pocket, shaking it and popping the top off. i hold my sweatshirt over my nose and mouth with one hand and begin to draw with the other. I pull away when I'm finished to look at it, stepping back.

A purple butterfly with dripping wings is painted on the wall. I smile and walk forward, picking up the can of spray paint and spinning around. I walk into someone, causing me to stumble back and drop my can of spray paint, breaking the can and splashing purple paint on my sneakers. I look up at the person i ran into. Spider man stands in front of me, his arms crossed across his chest.

"You just don't learn, do you?" he asks. I give him a weird look.

"what's your problem?" I say, reaching into the pocket where my switch blade is.

"Where do I start?" he asks and takes a step towards me. I take a step back.

"Are you stupid enough to be swinging around when there's an arrest warrant out for you?"

He thinks about it for a second.

"Now that you mention it, I am pretty stupid... but you know, I'm not the young girl walking around in the alleyways of NYC alone right after i was almost killed"

I glare at him. Why does he have to be so annoying?

"you should go home" he says.

"you should leave me alone"

"why are you so stubborn?"

"why are you so annoying?"

"harsh" he puts his hand to his heart and i roll my eyes.

"what do you want?"

"i just want to help"

"I don't need help"

"well, I was making sure..."

"Okay bye"

When he doesn't move i sigh and start to walk away. He grabs my arm and pulls me back. I pull the knife out of my pocket and swing at him but a silver webbing crosses my line of vision and in a second my arm is pinned against the wall.

"Let's not do that" he says and i struggle to get free. When i can't get free i start screaming. something covers my mouth and muffles my screaming.

He walks forward and peels the webbing off my mouth.

"You're absolutely crazy! there is no going back for you!" I scream at him as he works on releasing my arm.

"Not crazy, just strange" he corrects.

Once I'm free I put the knife back in my pocket and cross my arms.

"You amuse me" he says.

"Oh so you're bothering me for entertainment?" I ask, annoyed.

"Yup, pretty much" Sirens sound in the distance. "Duty calls, see you soon..."

"What?"

"your name?"

"Amanda"

"See you soon Amanda" he says and i feel him smiling behind his mask. I watch him as he runs down the alleyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Two weeks pass since my last meet up with spider-man. Alex laughed at me when I told her what had happened and I had to elbow her the side multiple times to shut her up. We celebrated Uncle Joe's birthday by taking him out to dinner at a nearby diner and getting him some canvas paper and brushes. I haven't seen Peter in the halls or in class recently but when I do he gives me a small wave and I awkwardly wave back.

I sit on the floor in the library, sorting through books on the bottom shelf in attempt to find the one I'm looking for. Taking turns glancing at the paper that has the book reference on it and the shelf. I let out a frustrated sigh, pushing myself up with my hands. I stand on my tip toes and push two books apart, jumping as I come face to face with someone.

Peter chuckles as I let out a startled squeak and fall backwards. He jogs around the shelf to my side and helps me up.

"We've got to stop meeting like this" he says, smiling.

"Tell me about it"

"I still owe you that coffee"

"yes, you do" I say, bending down and picking up the paper.

"You busy today after school?" He asks, biting his lip awkwardly.

"Not that I know of"

"Meet me at the main entrance doors" he says as the bell rings. "got to get to photography class, see you then?" He asks, walking backwards towards the door.

"Yeah"

"great" he says and spins on his heel, walking out the doors and disappearing down the stairs.

I stand in the middle of the library, staring blankly at the doors trying to sort out what just happened. The second bell rings, signifying I'm late. I panic and quickly rush out the doors to my next class.

"He what?!" Alex yells and I slam my hand over her mouth to muffle her squeaks of excitement.

"Shut up!" I whisper and she nods her head.

"Where are you guys going, oh my gosh he's so cute..." I block out her strange comments on Peter and watch the bell on the wall. Five minutes till the bell signifying schools over rings.

"you have to stop doing that!" Alex punches me lightly in the shoulder.

"what?" I rub my shoulder.

"You block my voice out" she wines.

"sorry"

"No you're not" she frowns.

"not really" I lean against the locker as she delivers another playful punch.

"First Spidey and now Peter?" She teases.

"Don't even bring him up now..." The bell rings, cutting me off.

Alex squeals and pushes me towards the door.

"go get him tiger!" she yells after me.

"Don't ever say that again!" I yell back at her before being swallowed by the crowd of other kids.

Peter, as expected, was leaning against the main entrance when I reach them. He smiles at me and I stop when I'm in front of him.

"where are we-" I start but he grabs my hand and pulls me down the stairs, skateboard in the other hand.

Once at the bottom he looks over at me. I give him a weird look.

"Do you skate?" he asks.

"I know how but I don't do it a lot" I answer, shrugging.

"Good" he walks over to a guy sitting on a bench under the old oak tree, talking to low for me to hear. I watch as the guy hands him a board and Peter nods a thank you, jogging over to me.

"Here you go" he hands me a board with a purple and black deck. "Follow me, I'll go slow so you can keep up" he teases, jumping on his board and skating ahead.

I look over to the school and Alex stands at the top of the steps, giving me a goofy thumbs up. I shake my head and laugh, jumping on the board to follow Peter. We skate downhill through town, weaving our way through the crowds. He stops in front of the same coffee shop that he had bumped into me at. I stop next to him.

"Wow, I feel like I've been here before" He comments and we both laugh.

"I'm in the mood for some ice coffee? how about you?" I look over at him.

"I most definitely am" He says and opens the door for me.

We walk up to the front counter and the same girl from the other day smiles at us.

"Hi, what can I get for you?"

"We'll take two ice coffees" Peter orders and I dig in my pocket for two dollars, looking up to find peter had already paid. "Remember? it's on me, well technically it was on you..." he jokes and I smile as he hands me the ice coffee.

We take a seat at the table near the window, sipping our coffee.

"So... tell me about yourself" he says, biting on the straw of his coffee.

"What do you want to know..."

"favorite color?"

"Purple... and yours?"

"Red and blue" I catch a smirk pulling at the edge of his lips as if amused.

"My turn to ask"

"well you just did..." Peter points out.

"Oh hush... favorite food?"

"New York style pizza" he says, smiling as if picturing it. "Yours?"

"Chicken wings"

"Good choice... how about favorite music?"

"probably rock... not a sucker for mainstream..." I twiddle with my thumbs under the table. "How about you?"

"Contemporary Rock" I laugh a bit. "what?" he asks, pretending to look hurt.

We talk about the most randomness things for a while longer. Laughing about stupid things and people watching. There's something about Peter that I can't figure out but I feel safe when I'm with him and for the first time someone else besides Alex makes me smile like I've never smiled before. I forgot about the world for a while with him.

We ended up buying some hot dogs from a street vender and sitting on a bench eating. Peter rests his elbows on his knees, giving me a corny smile as I sit cross legged on the bench next to him.

"what?" I ask, smiling back at him.

"Nothing, it's just... nevermind"

"No, tell me!" I wine, playfully nudging him.

"I don't really see you smile around school anymore... I never realized how much I missed it until now" he says and I look away, shrugging.

"I didn't realize you actually paid attention to me in the first place"

"Oh... well now you know" the corny smile is back on his face and I can't help but laugh at it. "What?" he asks, acting innocent.

"Don't what me... that look... just stop" I say in between giggles.

He tosses his tinfoil at me and I rub my arm, acting like he hurt me. He shakes his head and laughs. Soon we're both uncontrollably laughing at absolutely nothing. My forehead is on his shoulder as it shakes as he laughs. He wraps his arm around me as it begins to get dark and we continue to talk about random things to pass time. I look up at him and smile, meeting his eyes, our faces inches apart. He smiles back.

"This was really fun" I say, silently.

"yeah" he says, resting his forehead against mine, both of us still smiling.

He puts his hand under my chin, tilting my face up and leaning in.

"it was" he adds.

Closer. Closer. I can feel his breath on my lips, and I slowly close my eyes. We both jump back as three police cars, sirens wailing, speed past us.

"Sorry" he apologizes, scratching the back of his neck like he always does when he's awkward.

"No, it's fine..." I bite my lip.

"My aunt's probably looking for me" he looks in the direction that the police cars disappeared to. "Want me to walk you home?"

"No, it's alright, go let your aunt know your okay..."

He nods, picking up his board. I go to hand him mine but he waves me off.

"Keep it" he says, giving me a reassuring smile.

"You sure?" I ask and he nods. "thanks"

"No problem. Tonight was really fun though... can we maybe do it again sometime?"

"Of course" I smile at him and he nods, his eyes lighting up.

"Awesome, I'll see you in school tomorrow"

"Yup, I'll see you tomorrow" I answer, giving him a small wave.

He gives me one last cute smile before skating off. I awkwardly stand in front of the bench, skateboard in hand, watching him disappear into the distance, blending into the crowd.

What on earth just happened?

I walk into the apartment, locking the door behind me and flicking on the lights. I open the fridge door and grab a can of iced tea off the top shelf and shutting the fridge. On the freezer door is a green sticky note from my mom saying that she won't be home till later tonight.

Falling back on the couch, I grab the remote and flip on the news, popping open my iced tea. I take a sip as the news landing reports the recent car crashes and damage to roads, taking a sip of iced tea.

"Breaking news; police investigate a bank robbery held by five men and there are reported to be seven hostages inside at the moment. Two of them being kids under the age of thirteen. Where is our friendly neighbor, Spider-man?"

I sigh and shake my head.

"Probably annoying some poor girl in an alley" I mutter to myself quietly.

I flip through the channels, settling on watching Disney for a little while. The older Disney shows come on around this time, 9. Such as Phil of the Future which i happen to be watching now, having no actual interest in it. I flip through the channels and stop when i hear Spider-man.

"It looks as if Spider-man has finally shown up and the citizens seem very happy, but the cops are determined to catch both the bank robbers and Spider-Man. There main focus at the moment is making sure that all hostages are removed to safety."

It flips to a video clip that looks like it had been taken on a cheap camcorder of Spider-Man swinging and landing on the roof of the bank, climbing in through the fire escape. The crowd around is screaming with either joy or negativity.

"As you can see, Spider-Man has entered the building."

The news man and the crowd fall silent as gunshots are fired inside the building.

"Everybody down!" you can hear the cops screaming in the background and everyone drops to the ground, the camera man still getting everything on footage. I sit on the end of the couch, biting on my thumb nail in suspense.

Spider-man suddenly walks out of the entrance, followed by the hostages and whispers something into the cops ear. The cop quickly grabs him to handcuff him but he shoots out his silver webbing and swings away, quickly as the cops all open fire at him, he safely makes a clean getaway.

"And there you have it folks, everyone is safe and Spider-Man has once again saved the day!" the news man exclaims over the screaming crowd surrounding him. The news flips to the girl who sits at her desk, organizing her papers. Quickly, she looks up.

"The question remains, Who is Spider-Man?"

I flip off the TV, leaving the apartment in pitch blackness.

"Who are you Spider-Man?" I whisper to myself as if he could hear me.


	5. Chapter 5

"I have... an idea!" Alex throws her painter finger in the air, smiling evilly.

"No" I say, not wanting to know the plan.

"Well you haven't heard-"

"Nope" I cut her off.

"Will you just-"

"Can't hear you" I say, laughing.

"Miss. Silver, is there something funny?" My science teacher, Mrs. Roles, asks, interrupting my laughter.

"No, sorry" I answer quickly.

"This is your second strike, one more and you have detention" she warns, as if I'm five.

Alex and I quickly put our heads down, focusing on our school work until the bell rings.

"I swear, she pays her husband to love her" Alex comments, shoving her science binder into her locker.

I laugh a little at the joke, earning a smirk from Alex. Once she's finished shoving books in her locker, she shuts it, resting her arm on the locker next to me.

"You haven't heard my plan yet" she smiles.

"Nope" I say and spin on my heel, walking down the hallway to lunch.

Alex and I sit at the table with a bunch of other random girls we talk with rarely, poking at our food. Alex nudges me and I look over at her.

"What?"

"Matt's coming towards us" she whispers to me.

I quickly spin around as someone gathers a fistful of the front of my shirt, pulling me on my feet. I yelp as I'm pulled up to my tip toes to come face to face with Matt, who smirks evilly.

"I never got the chance to finish you off" he comments, and I hold my breath to block the stench of his breath.

"Oh, well that really is bad, you should tell your counselor... I really can't talk now, ya know, work and stuff" I say quickly, trying not to let my voice shake.

"Good, I wasn't in the mood for talking" he slams me into the nearest wall, a crowd forming around us.

I close my eyes and look away, trying to make myself as small as possible.

"What's the matter? Kaleb not here to protect you?" he teases and I stay silent. "Oh, so now your mute. That's too bad, I like the screamers"

"That's good, I do too" a voice says from behind Matt that I quickly recognize.

Matt turns around, releasing me and facing Peter.

"You guys just don't stop interfering do you?" he rubs his temples. "That's good though, I was originally aiming to mess you up in the beginning, how about we have a little history repeating" He says and reaches to grab Peter.

Alex grabs my arm and pulls me into the crowd but i wiggle away and watch as Peter ducks out of his grab. Matt grunts in frustration, throwing a punch. Peter catches his fist in his hand and twists, using his foot to trip him on his back. Matt lays on the ground grunting and Peter bends down, whispering something to low for me to hear.

He looks up, his eyes meeting mine and I let Alex drag me away.

Once outside the cafeteria, she drags me into the girls bathroom.

"Are you okay?" she asks, cupping my face in her hands and turning my head from side to side, examining my face.

"I'm fine" I push her hands away, turning my head away from her.

"Don't listen to him" she hisses.

"I know, but its true... Kaleb isn't here anymore" I whisper,

She grabs me into a bear hug and I rest my head on her shoulder.

"He still loves you" she whispers and I nod, fighting back tears.

Once Alex finally lets me breath again, I walk out of the bathroom and to my locker, opening it and grabbing my binder for next period. I shut it and jump as Peter stands on the other side of it.

"Sorry" he says, apologizing for scaring me.

"It's fine" I respond, keeping my head down. "Thanks by the way" I add.

"No problem, someone needed to knock some sense into him anyways... I didn't want him hurting anyone else, especially you"

Too late I wanted to say but i just muttered a thanks, turning to go to class. He grabs my arm, not to hard but hard enough to stop me and turn me to face him. I give him a questioning look.

"I was wondering if we could do something today? There's this place in the park that I want you to see" he asks, sounding nervous.

"Oh, I'd love to, but my mom wants me to go home and do some chores" I lie, not wanting to see anyone now and immediately feeling bad for it.

"Okay, maybe some other time, see you around" he says, turning and heading the opposite way down the hall.

"Yup" I respond, knowing he doesn't hear me.

The walk home is silent and lonely. Not wanting to go home right away, I turn into an alleyway. Grabbing on to a fire escape, i pull myself up, rolling on the platform. I push myself up and continue walking up the fire escape stairs until i reach the empty roof. I drop my heavy bag off my shoulders and walk over to the edge, looking down about ten stories. I sit on the edge, dangling my legs over it and looking up at the sky.

"hey kaleb" I whisper. "I wish you were here... Mom's working all the time now to try to forget about you... its bad" I pause, biting my lip to hold in tears. "You loved this building" I smile at the memory. "you would dare me to stand on the edge and fall backwards, promising to catch me, and of course, every time, you did." I look down. "Someday, I know I'm going to lose it... just going to fall backwards, the wrong way and you won't be there to catch me this time..." A tear escapes from my eye and I quickly wipe it away. "I hope your better now... I know I'm not" I whisper the last few words and fall silent, not knowing what else to say.

I climb down and unzip my backpack, pulling out my hoodie and laying it across the ground. I lay down on it, looking at the sky as the sun sets and closing my eyes, picturing something beautiful.

"I wouldn't say that this is the best place to pass out, but hey, as long as your comfortable" I hear a voice say and quickly sit up, realizing its night. All around me, it's pitch black as I let my eyes adjust.

"And sleeping beauty has awoken" The voice speaks again. I quickly stand up and spin around to the direction the voice is coming from. "Psst, I'm over here" the voice appears again behind me and I spin around to face Spider-man.

"Not you" I mutter under my breath.

"Well, hello to you too" he crosses his arms across his chest.

"I really wish I could talk but... look at the time" I say, looking at my bare wrist and spinning around, walking towards the fire escape.

"Wait" I feel him put his hand on my arm and I spin around.

"Why won't you leave me alone?!" I yell at him and bite my tongue to shut myself up.

He jumps back a little, looking more hurt then I intended.

"I'm sorry" I whisper, looking down.

"No, it's fine"

"I just need to go home and rest... alone" I add the last word quickly, just to hint for him to leave.

"I understand... need a ride?" He offers and I shake my head, picking up my bag.

I hear him yell a goodbye as I climb down the fire escape and jump back down into the alleyway.

The walk home is, as always, lonely. I unlock the apartment and push the door open with my shoulder, walking straight into my bedroom and slamming the door shut. I strip down and then throw on a pair of pajamas, falling backwards into my bed. I stare at the ceiling for a while before letting sleep take over.


End file.
